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The school opened in 1886 offering practical instruction to goldminers working the quartz fields and closed 1954. Today as one of the most significant museums of its type in Australasia, it is administered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. If antique buildings is your thing don’t miss the old laboratory classroom, untouched since the last student went off home.
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The facilities include a heritage style station, steaming bays, sidings and turntable hydraulically operated to rise and fall, tunnel and three bridges.
Displays of early European settlement, the days of the famous 19th-century gold rush and of 20th-century development. The remarkable history and production of the Thames foundries is also covered; timber jacks, logging locos and even cast iron houses! The museum is in a garden setting.
Overlooking the township from a great viewpoint, take Waiotahi Creek Rd to the top at the north end of Thames.
You can go deep underground into the 100 year old Golden Crown Mine and also see the old stamper battery actually working. Check out the photo history room and try your hand at panning for gold.
A 197 km cycle trail from Kaiaua to Matamata. This is one of the Great Rides of the New Zealand Cycle Trail, using former railways.